This invention relates generally to underwater diving equipment and more particularly to an improved instrumentation console having a diver's knife mounted in assembly therewith.
The diver's console herein disclosed and claimed is primarily designed for use in association with an otherwise conventional scuba diving assembly, including a tank of compressed air and a regulator attached to the tank which provides breathable air at ambient pressure to the diver on demand. However, the invention is not to be deemed as being limited solely to the use just described.
Current, state-of-the-art scuba diving systems just described also include, for the sake of safety, a pressure gauge attached by a suitable hose to the regulator or tank; the pressure gauge provides the diver an indication of how much air remains in the tank during the course of a dive. Obviously, a low pressure tank reading indicates to the diver that he should return to the surface before the air supply is exhausted. Two other rather essential safety items that a scuba diver should carry are a depth gauge and diver's knife. The depth gauge is important because the depth of the dive and the time of the dive must be interrelated in order to either avoid stage decompression before returning to the surface or to determine how much decompression is required and at what depth prior to returning to the surface. The diver's knife is an important piece of safety equipment as it is used as a piercing and/or cutting tool, particularly in the event of diver entanglement in rope, netting, nylon line or fishing line, while underwater.
Previously, a diver's depth gauge was ordinarily worn about the wrist, although recently, diver's consoles or "combo boards" have been developed which encase the pressure gauge described above and provide additional mounts for insertion of the depth gauge and, perhaps, and underwater compass. Diver's knives have usually been mounted within a sheath which was strapped to a diver's upper or lower leg or upper or lower forearm. Lately, some divers have used the sheath straps to loosely attach the diver's knife and sheath to the portion of the hose between the pressure gauge and regulator or tank. However, secure attachment is impossible and the loss of this essential piece of safety equipment has not been uncommon.
There are other deficiencies in currently available diver's depth gauges and knives. Depth gauges currently available on the market are generally not adjustable in the field but must be sent to a specialist having suitable equipment for readjustment. Conventional diver's knives are made from several components, and breakage of one of the components is not uncommon. Additionally, diver's knives are usually retained in sheaths by means of a rubber ring or circle on the sheath for retaining the handle of the knife. These rubber rings are difficult to use, particularly under water, and are subject to deterioration and breakage. Loss of the knife is the usual result.
Other than the prior art as described above, there is little patent literature which is relevant to the herein disclosed and claimed invention. Conventional diver's consoles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,693,446; 3,828,611; 3,831,449; 3,888,127; and 4,107,996. Unconventional knife sheaths are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,252,489 and 4,030,194, the former disclosing storage of a knife within an ax handle and the latter disclosing nesting of a smaller knife within the handle of a larger knife. These are a great number of patents disclosing various latching mechanisms associated with a sheath for retaining a knife within the sheath. U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,516 discloses a spring-loaded sheath latch which engages the handle of the knife upon insertion of the knife in the sheath. U.S. Pat. No. 675,118 shows a somewhat related, spring-loaded latch for retaining a knife within its sheath.
However, the prior art does not disclose a diver's console including a diver's knife and sheath mounted in structural assembly with the console, the console also including one or mare diver's gauges.